Tag Archives: peace

An abandoned spiritual retreat in northern India where The Beatles famously learned to meditate has been opened to the public. The ashram, located in the town of Rishikesh on the banks of the river Ganga, became derelict after its flamboyant guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi abandoned the place in the 1970s. …

The spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan called for greater cultural understanding between the Muslim World and the West, rejecting the notion of a fundamental ‘clash of civilizations’. In a speech at Harvard University, Prince Aga Khan once again insisted on pluralism and …

The 17-year-old showed no signs of nerves as she received the 24-carat Nobel medal and diploma alongside co-winner Kailash Satyarthi, the renowned Indian children’s rights campaigner, before an audience that included members of the Norwegian royal family as well as a slew of celebrities including rocker Steven Tyler and actress and rapper Queen Latifah.

Malala didn’t bat an eyelid even as she was interrupted by a young student wielding a Mexican flag.

The young man is believed to have arrived claiming asylum in Norway earlier this week but had somehow managed to enter the venue despite tight security.

Whilst there hasn’t been confirmation about what he was protesting about, it is believed that he wanted to raise the issue of the 43 Mexican students recently kidnapped and murdered by a drug cartel.

Before the disruption, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee had spoken about Malala and Satyarthi’s shared values.

Thorbjorn Jagland said: "Satyarthi and Yousafzai are precisely the people whom Alfred Nobel in his will calls 'champions of peace'. A young girl and a somewhat older man, one from Pakistan and one from India, one Muslim, the other Hindu; both symbols of what the world needs: more unity. Fraternity between the nations.”

Mr Jagland also invoked the memory of Mahatma Gandhi and how both Satyarthi and Yousafzai were perpetuating his teachings.

"The two whom we honour here today stand very firm on this point. They live according to a principle Mahatma Gandhi gave expression to. He said: 'There are many purposes I would have died for. There are no purposes I would have killed for'".

In its official citation, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee said Ms Yousafzai and Mr Satyarthi were honoured for their “struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.

Hours before the ceremony Malala had declared her ambition of becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Accepting her award, she showed she certainly the confidence and public speaking skills for the job, moving many in the audience – including Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit - to tears whilst also eliciting plenty of laughs.

“I’m humbled that the Nobel Committee has selected me for this precious award. I’m very proud to be the first Pashtu and first Pakistani to receive this award. Along with that, I’m pretty certain that I’m the first recipient who still fights with her younger brothers”, she said.

“I want peace everywhere but my brothers and I are still working on that”, Malala added.

Dressed in a grey sweater over her orange Shalwar Kameez and veiled in a simple salmon-coloured shawl, Malala thanked her father for “not clipping my wings and letting me fly”, which attracted rapturous applause.

Satyarthi - who has campaigned for children’s rights for “twice as long as I have lived”, as described by Malala – said: "There is no greater violence than to deny the dreams of our children.

"I refuse to accept that the shackles of slavery can ever be stronger than the quest for freedom”.

A school uniform worn by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai when she was shot by Taliban gunmen in 2012 is to go on display in the Norwegian capital Oslo. The blood-stained blue and white uniform was made part of the Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition at the Nobel Peace Centre …

A school uniform worn by Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai when she was shot by Taliban gunmen in 2012 is to go on display in the Norwegian capital Oslo. The blood-stained blue and white uniform was made part of the Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition at the Nobel Peace Centre …

For some British Muslims, the path to jihad and the path to peaceful aid work can traverse much of the same terrain. From an office in Britain’s second largest city, Waseem Iqbal and a friend are planning a trip to the Middle East. In Jordan, they will bring food packages …

Young Tamil girls make their way to school in Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka as a government soldier looks on. In the fishing village of Oori, northwestern Sri Lanka, two mothers await news of their young daughters who were taken to a care home three months ago after their alleged rape …

As the sound of gunfire erupted along the international border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that this year's Nobel Peace Prize will be shared between a teenage Pakistani education activist and an Indian children's rights campaigner.

People in Malala's hometown of Mingora in Pakistan's beautiful and restive Swat valley, celebrated the fact that a young woman from their conservative society had won such a prestigious honour.

"This is a moment of great honour for us, and the people of Swat and the people of Pakistan," said Tariq Khan, a medical official, told Reuters.

Malala's success could bring real change to a region where women are expected to keep silent and stay behind closed doors.

Change may be slow, but Malala's win is bound to inspire girls in the region to pursue education and become independent.

Just a few years ago, the region was overrun by Taliban insurgents who tried to impose strict Islamic rule and ban women from seeking education. Eventually, the Pakistani army drove them away, but tensions are still high in the strategic region.

Under the Taliban, teenaged Malala kept an anonymous blog describing her experiences under the austere Islamist regime, calling on other girls to study and develop their own opinions.

"The Taliban want to imprison women in homes. They don't want their faces to be seen, they don't want women to make their mark," said Aziz Ullah, a store owner in Mingora.

"Malala said, 'No. women will not sit at home. They will go out, they will study, they will do something big.' So they shot her. And I know they will try to do it again, now that she has won this big award."

Malala shot to global prominence when she was shot by Taliban gunmen as she made her way to school.

She was later flown for specialist treatment to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where she now resides, unable to return to Mingora because of threats by the Taliban to kill her and her family.

The current chief of the Pakistani Taliban, Mullah Fazlullah, was the one who ordered the 2012 attack against her.

Despite its conservative reputation, most people in the region want their daughters to go to school.

"I have sent all my daughters and grand-daughters to school. Why would I be against Malala? Swatis are a very proud people who have always believed in education", said Akal Zada, a restaurant owner.

Teenage Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai has won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. The 17-year-old shares this year’s prize with the Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. The duo were named winners of the $1.1 million prize by the chairman of the Nobel committee, former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland, …